12 Jul GS 2022 art 29

GS 2022 Article 29 – Archives

1.   Material

• 1.1    Report of the Burlington-Ebenezer CanRC re Archives (8.2.3.1).
• This report includes a suggestion for an addition to the Synod Guidelines and a Mandate for maintaining the Archives.
• 1.2    Report of the Burlington Waterdown-Rehoboth CanRC re Inspection of the Archives (8.2.3.2).
• 1.3    Letter from the Willoughby Heights CanRC (8.3.3.1) suggesting some edits to the mandate.
• 1.4    Letter from the Burlington-Ebenezer CanRC informing General Synod of the appointment of a new archivist (GS 2022 Art. 6.3).

2.   Admissibility

All materials were declared admissible.

3.   Decisions

• Synod decided:
  • 3.1    To thank the Burlington-Ebenezer CanRC and Burlington Waterdown-Rehoboth CanRC for fulfilling their mandates;
  • 3.2    To express gratitude to br. K. Spithoff for his years of faithful service as archivist;
  • 3.3    To add to the Guidelines for General Synod the following addition to the duties of the Second Clerk under the Guidelines for General Synod:
  •                   III D 4 He shall ensure that a signed copy of all the correspondence to and from the General Synod and all materials submitted to General Synod be compiled in the order of the agenda and forwarded as soon as possible to the Church responsible for preserving the Archives of General Synod.
  • 3.4    To edit the language of the mandate suggested by the Archiving Church (1.1) for clarity and consistency and to address some of the suggestions made by a church (1.3);
  • 3.5    To mandate both the Archive Church and the inspecting church to report to the next general synod on their activities six weeks prior to the next general synod;
  • 3.6    To adopt the following Mandate for the Church appointed to maintain the Archives of the General Synods of the Canadian Reformed Churches:
    • Mandate for the Church appointed to maintain
    • the Archives of the General Synods
    • of the Canadian Reformed Churches
    • From the first General Synod of the Canadian Reformed Churches, the Synod Homewood in 1954, General Synods have expressed the desirability of maintaining the records of their meetings, the decisions made and all the supporting documents used as rationale for making the decisions. This is in line with the requirements of keeping archives as expressed in Church Order Article 43. In order to consistently preserve and maintain the materials from general synods and from committees appointed to serve general synods, General Synod appoints a church responsible for collecting and preserving the material in an archive. For continuity, the Burlington-Ebenezer Canadian Reformed Church is the designated Archive Church and is to be re-appointed by each General Synod.
    • The Archive Church shall adhere to the following mandate adopted by General Synod:
      • A.     The Archive Church shall appoint a person to be the Archivist, who is responsible for the work of collecting and maintaining the archives.
      • B.     The Archive Church shall provide a suitable secure place for keeping the archives, and shall supply filing cabinets and whatever other items are required. Costs are to be reimbursed from the General Fund.
      • C.     The Archive Church shall submit a report on the condition and activity of the archives to each General Synod six months prior to convocation.
      • D.     The Archive Church shall, within three months of the end of each General Synod, send a letter to each committee requesting that they submit for the archives any materials more than ten years old, and which they no longer need for their duties as committees of General Synod. The materials submitted are left to the discretion of the committees, which may decide to keep their own archives to facilitate their duties.
      • E.     The archives of General Synod shall contain the following materials in hard copy pertaining to General Synods:
        • – One copy of the acts of each General Synod;
        • – One copy of all the reports of the committees of General Synod and their sub-committees;
        • – One copy of all correspondence regarding the calling of General Synod sent by the church responsible for calling General Synod;
        • – One copy of the credentials of the delegates to General Synod;
        • – One signed copy of all the correspondence to and from each General Synod filed in binders, particular to each General Synod, and in the order of the agenda of the General Synod;
        • – One copy of all material from the committees and their sub-committees, including meeting minutes, correspondence, and documents; and
        • – One copy of each annual yearbook of the Canadian and American Reformed Churches.
        • The materials shall be properly catalogued in an index to facilitate reference.
      • F.     Non-confidential documents of the General Synod archives may be obtained as photocopies at the expense of the person requesting them.
      • G.     The archives shall be made available for inspection by the delegates from the church appointed by the previous General Synod to inspect the archives and submit a report to the next General Synod.

4.   Grounds

• 4.1    Re 3.2: it will help the first clerk in his task by having the second clerk assist him in this manner.
• 4.2    Re 3.4: this mandate will provide clarity for the Archive Church in terms of its role and accountability.